1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of managing an agricultural device and to a computer program for carrying out the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known for an agricultural device, such as a milking device which is used to milk dairy animals such as cows, goats, llamas, buffalos or any other dairy animal, to be managed with a suitable management program. The management program, which is run, for example, on a personal computer, notebook or the like, can record measured data relating to the milking machine and/or dairy animals, record error messages, and identify anomalies, and the like.
For example, testing milk obtained by the milking device for clinical mastitis is known. However, because the sample size is small, and because such machines work in isolation, a heightened accuracy and early detection cannot uniformly be reached.
Clinical mastitis is a common complication among dairy animals, and therefore an important factor to control in the milking process. Lack of accurate and early detection can lead to tainting of the milk supply, as well as costly treatment for the affected dairy animal, or animals (should the mastitis spread through use of contaminated machinery). Therefore any improvements in accuracy and early, accurate and systematic detection are commercially desirable.
However, currently agricultural devices are run through a management program in isolation. There is a need for improved management systems which can take external information into account and which can aggregate external information.